An
Iranian woman convicted of adultery has been sentenced to death by stoning.
Sakineh Mohamamadi e Ashtiani, a 43-year-old mother of two in the
northwestern Iranian city of Tabriz, was accused of having extramarital
relations with two men who ended up killing her husband.
Infidelity is illegal in Iran, and usually punished with lashes and
prison time. While the Iranian penal code allows for the death sentence
in infidelity cases, execution by stoning is rare.
The case began in 2005 when Ashtiani was arrested for having
illicit relationships. She was convicted by a local court a year
later and sentenced to 99 lashes and an unknown amount of time in
prison, where she has remained since.
Following the original case, however, Ashtiani and her boyfriends
were accused of murdering her husband. Ashtiani was convicted and
sentenced to death by stoning.
She has denied any wrongdoing but reportedly asked local authorities
for a pardon, stating simply If I have done any wrong, I repent.
The request for clemency was denied.
Update:
EU speak out against stoning
7th July 2010. Based on
article from
huliq.com
While
Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani and her attorney wait anxiously to see
whether Iranian authorities carry out the sentence of death by stoning
for adultery, worldwide pressure continues to mount to halt the
execution, with the European Union the latest to speak out.
EU foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton has called on Iran to halt
the stoning of Ashtiani along with two other scheduled executions.
Mohammad Reza Haddadi was sentenced to hanging for a murder he committed
as a minor, and Zeynab Jalalian, a Kurd, is awaiting execution as an
enemy of God.
Ashton had especially harsh words for Ashtiani's punishment, calling
stoning a particularly cruel method of execution which amounts to
torture. She also noted that Ashtiani's and Haddadi.'s exedcutions
violate international conventions on civil, political, and children's
rights.
Comment:
Stop Stoning and Sharia Laws!
7th July 2010. By Maryam Namazie
See also
iransolidarity.blogspot.com
11
July is the International Day against Stoning – a day we would do well
to mark especially given that Sakine Mohammadi Ashtiani faces imminent
death by stoning for adultery.
Appealing on her behalf, her two children have said: Today we
reach out to the people of the world. It is now five years that we have
lived in fear and in horror, deprived of motherly love. Is the world so
cruel that it can watch this catastrophe and do nothing?
Don't stand by and watch. Let's end this once and for all.
To show your condemnation against stoning and support for Sakine,
during the week of 5-11 July,
take stones to your city centres, universities, media outlets,
workplaces… and put them in a public place, with a message in support of
Sakine and against stoning and executions. See also
iransolidarity.blogspot.com
With daily reports of such brutality, some will still not stop
asserting that Sharia law is misunderstood and wrongly associated with
medieval punishments - yet this is what Sharia's penal code demands. The
image of Sharia law is draconian because the reality is such.
Update:
Stoning Cancelled
9th July 2010. Based on
article
from news.bbc.co.uk
The
authorities in Iran have announced that a woman convicted of adultery
will not be stoned to death.
But it is not clear whether they have lifted the death sentence
against Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, who has been in prison in Tabriz
since 2006.
There has been an international campaign to prevent her being stoned.
UK Foreign Secretary William Hague said stoning was a medieval
punishment and that its continued use showed Iran's disregard for
human rights. If the punishment is carried out, it will disgust and
appal the watching world, he told a news conference in London.
Offsite:
15 more cases
9th July 2010. See article
from guardian.co.uk
Twelve
Iranian women and three men are on death row awaiting execution by
stoning despite an apparent last-minute reprieve for a mother of two who
had been facing the horrific sentence after being convicted of adultery.
...Read the full article
Update:
No Stoning But...
10th July 2010. Based on
article
from guardian.co.uk
Sakineh
Mohammadi Ashtiani will not be stoned, the regime has said, but now her family
fear she will be hanged instead
Iran has also imposed a media blackout over the case of a 43-year-old
mother of two who was sentenced to be stoned to death and whose fate is
still unclear despite an apparent reprieve.
Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani is still facing execution by hanging after
being convicted of adultery, her son told the Guardian today.
Newspapers, agencies and TV channels in Iran have been banned from
reporting Mohammadi Ashtiani's death sentence, despite an international
campaign launched by her children, which has been joined by politicians
and celebrities from all over the world.
Last night the Iranian embassy in London issued an opaque statement
saying that Mohammadi Ashtiani would not be stoned to death.
According to information from the relevant judicial authorities in Iran,
she will not be executed by stoning punishment, it said.
Update:
Under Pressure
24th July 2010.
Based on
article
from guardian.co.uk
Iran
has put fresh pressure on the woman it last month sentenced to death by stoning,
demanding the names of those involved in the campaign for her release.
The case of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani has drawn international
attention after her children launched a campaign for her release. After
a global outcry last month, Iran's judiciary said Sakineh would not be
put to death by stoning, but still faced execution by hanging.
Ashtiani has been interrogated inside Tabriz prison over the names of
the people who have been in touch with her family and the way her photo
has been distributed among the media, the Guardian has learned.
Sakineh's photo, which has been distributed all over the world, has
become a defining image for human rights activists campaigning against
stoning in Iran.
Sakineh has been under big pressure since the world has paid
attention to her case, a source close to her family told the
Guardian. Recently she was questioned and asked to advise her
children to remain silent, otherwise they will be arrested too.
International attention is the only hope for Sakineh's release, the
source added.
Update:
London Rallies to Ashtiani's cause
26th July 2010. Based on
article
from bbc.co.uk
A
rally has been held in London to protest over a woman sentenced to death for
adultery in Iran.
Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani was originally told she would be killed by
stoning, but the penalty was put on hold following international anger.
Human rights campaigners gathered in Trafalgar Square, London, to
protest against medievalism and barbarity.
They called on the international community to make the world stand
still over Ashtiani's treatment.
Demonstrators in Trafalgar Square waved placards reading: Turn all
stones towards the Islamic regime of Iran.
Others at the event on Saturday held banners calling for the
abolition of the death penalty, while members of the public signed a
petition against the punishment.
Campaigners said similar demonstrations were being held in more than
30 countries to put pressure on Iran in the hope of securing the release
of Ashtiani, who has been in jail in the north-western city of Tabriz
since 2005.
Update:
Ashtiani's Lawyer Arrested
26th July 2010. Based on
article
from guardian.co.uk
The
lawyer of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, who faced death by stoning, now faces
re-arrest and his wife and brother-in-law have also been held by Iran's
authorities.
Authorities in Iran have issued an arrest warrant for an acclaimed
Iranian lawyer and arrested his wife and brother-in-law over his
involvement in the case of a woman sentenced to death by stoning.
Lawyer Mohammad Mostafaei's office in Tehran was ransacked, and he
was interrogated in Evin prison for four hours on Saturday over his
human rights activities and involvement in the case of Sakineh Mohammadi
Ashtiani.
He was released, then called back for further questioning before
being set free. Authorities then issued an arrest warrant. When they
were unable to find him the authorities arrested his wife, Fereshteh
Halimi and her brother Farhad Halimi to try to force him to surrender.
However, it is still unclear whether Mostafaei has been arrested or he
has managed to evade officials.
Mostafaei is not a normal lawyer, he is also a human rights
activist and he has represented several stoning cases and juvenile
offenders in Iran, said Soheila Vahdati, an Iranian activist who is
based in California.
Mostafaei writes regularly for Iranian media and his blog and his
role in making Iranians aware of the human rights abuses in Iran has
made it difficult for the Iranian regime to tolerate him anymore,
she said.
Update:
Hanging
31st July 2010. Based on
article
from guardian.co.uk
The
Iranian woman whose sentence of death by stoning was commuted to hanging after
an international campaign, has sent a message from inside Tabriz prison calling
for further support so that she might be reunited with her children.
Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, a 43-year-old mother of two, said she
thinks of nothing other than hugging her children and that she was
mentally broken when authorities flogged her 99 times in front of her
then 17-year-old son, Sajad.
She thanked the world for launching the campaign for her release but
said part of her heart is frozen. Every night before I go to
sleep, I think who would throw stones at me?, she said.
The message was read by Mina Ahadi, of the Iran Committee against
Stoning (ICAS), at a press conference in Conway Hall, in London, this
morning .
At the conference, ICAS presented a document showing Mohammadi
Ashtiani had in fact been convicted of adultery. She was originally
sentenced to 99 lashes, but her case was reopened when a court in Tabriz
suspected her of murdering her husband. She was acquitted, but the
adultery charge was reviewed and the death by stoning sentence handed
down on the basis of judge's knowledge.
The documents provided by ICAS show that two of five judges who
investigated Mohammadi Ashtiani's case concluded that there was no
forensic evidence of adultery. It's shocking, she's sentenced to
death by stoning because three judges think, just think, that you had an
illicit relationship outside marriage, said Maryam Namazie of the
ICAS.